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guess who's back

(I hope)

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He's at the beach!!!!

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big fan of stories that, while undoubtedly being about the power of friendship, acknowledge that the power of incredible violence is just as important

the love was there. the love changed everything. the crowbar helped also

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I like it when The Joker leans into the wacky clown aesthetic but I also like it when he has a more reserved look

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Spoilers - Batman: Damned

Okay, so I was reading Batman: Damned, and I was HELLA lost the entire time. After reading a summary and rereading parts of it, I still don't understand the ending.

So, the Enchantress basically made a deal which kept Bruce alive from childhood and somehow that's connected to him being Batman...sure, let's go with that. Anywho, he returns to the city morgue to like be where he's meant to be or something which is where he says this gay-ass line about Joker:

and then dissipates into ghosthood. WHERE I'M CONFUSED IS THE NEXT BIT. Why the hell does Joker then instead survive the fall that started all this mess?

Is this just telling us that Joker didn't actually die, and he survived this whole time? Did Bruce swap places with Joker? If so, why the hell is he allowed to do that? Is it the power of love???????? Where are the ghost rules that explain that?

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Detective Comics Annual #5 (1992) - Eclipso: The Darkness Within

It just tickles my fancy whenever Batman is forced to save his boyfriend. 😌

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Detective Comics Annual #5 (1992) - Eclipso: The Darkness Within

It just tickles my fancy whenever Batman is forced to save his boyfriend. 😌

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Happy Pride Moth to the evil clowns and the spandex wearing heroes out there!

It might look like they're fighting, but it's actually a very complicated courting ritual... you wouldn't understand.

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Honestly I think this is the best illustration of Bruce's moronic "playboy" persona, and if you don't read the phone conversation in the most homosexual way possible...

(also dear god what is with Jason's whole hair situation??)

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #573

I like that Bruce just has a giant portrait of his parents.

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😍

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Detective Comics #1

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I find batjokes fascinating because I love the exclusivity and confusion of the relationship.

With most of his other villains, the side of them that is good is more obvious. Harvey constantly shows his past on his face, Harley and Ivy are antiheroes half the damn time, Catwoman tends to blur the line between good and bad, Killer Croc is basically "what if a man with anger issues was also big and scaly", and Mr Freeze is entirely motivated by love. There's more, but the goodness is something that can be seen outside of Batman , and there doesn't need to be many reminders for him.

Come in, the Joker. Someone so broken he has turned to complete desensitisation of murder and cruelty. Someone so determined to make his whole life a performance, that Batman sometimes questions whether Joker's rare breakdowns and moments of kindheartedness are all a ruse. Even though he is supposed to believe there is good in everyone, there's just something about the Joker that causes him to doubt all he's ever known. And when u have someone so twisted and yet so broken obsessed with you, it's a real struggle

But, if Batman does end up seeing the good in him, or at least , a life worth saving, which he often does tend to, he ends up being completely alone. He can only convince people to avoid killing him for the sake of their own sanity, working on momentary lapses of judgement. And it becomes its own cruel joke, because no one can truly understand what he sees, because the joker is typically awful to anyone and everyone, leaving his best jokes for the Bat. And because the joker is more of a trickster than other obsessive villains, that isolation becomes maddening, and Batman, as he is, ends up just burying himself into a deeper hole.

Harley can kinda understand, but not really, because she's always known what they had was different, and it just leaves a sourness.

Alfred tries to be understanding of Bruce's obvious obsession, just as he tries to be understanding of all of his obsessions, but he really does go "I think it's just best to kill this guy, Bruce" , in his head, a lot.

But what Joker doesn't prepare for , is when the performances that used to grow better and better with time, just end up not working. Batman becomes assured of his own knowledge of the Joker, and also his lack there of ("he's been writing with his right hand the whole time but decided to write this letter with his left? Who gives a shit, it's the joker, this is the sort of thing he does."). Even though he can't properly communicate it to others, he starts to see right through him.

And that fucks up the Joker, when he realises he's ran out of tricks and secrets. "I'm the only one who understands to you" turns to "shit, he's the only one who understands me". It becomes glaringly more and more obvious to Joker that Batman is the way he is because he chooses to be, and that there is no darker self to embrace , for Batman is the darker self, which means Joker chooses to be himself every single day. Whilst Joker is shaken, he doesn't realise that Batman is shaken too- his increased understanding of the Joker and years of violence has ironically caused his moral core to become increasingly more unstable.

They go from the most assured and confident versions of themselves, to a sudden shift.

It starts with their fantasies: Batman who secretly hoped he could bring out the good in Joker for so long, starts to wonder about secret criminal missions he might have to undertake to bring Joker to justice forever, or maybe he should keep him locked up himself. He has fantasized about killing him before plenty, of course, but there's a difference now, because it's less about stopping him, and more about just letting him win, but he doesn't let himself make that conclusion.

And Joker, who used to plan all the ways he could bring Batman down to his level, realising its not working, starts to think: well, maybe I could help out sometimes. Maybe I don't have to ALWAYS be killing for the sake of the punchline, because maybe the joke has gotten a bit boring. Maybe it'd be funnier to save the people I tormented sometimes. Maybe parts of Batman do live inside Bruce Wayne, and we shouldn't be leaving any stones unturned, should we?

But these things don't mean anything. No, Bruce is just tired , it's normal to think about the easy way, and Joker, he's tired too, it's normal to think about variations in his joke, because it's not like it'd really change anything, because Batman still isn't going to laugh. And they can't let the other person notice , it would ruin it all.

And if Bruce does notice that Joker has been less violent than usual, and more grounded in reality, he can't hope that Joker has really changed, because it's all a sick game to the Joker, and that would mean having to feel guilty about breaking his bones: besides, Batman has been here before.

And Joker pays no mind to the empty, distant glares, the glares that are empty in the papers, and empty in person, because Batman always gets back up, because the dance can't end. Batman's always been violent towards him , and justifiably so, so that strange feeling in his gut? Its just from the fight. Because if those tired stares, unreasonable levels of violence towards criminals, and occasional smirks mean that something is changing, then this is what he should be wanting.

He recites his lines, and he gets a chuckle. He gets the response he's been waiting all these years for, but something feels wrong.

"Maybe we really are the same, Joker."

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Those "I'm just like the Joker brah 🔥💥💯💪 I'm the sigma society super sux💥🔥" men need to realize that in order to be like the Joker you should also be deeply in love with Batman to the point where in a situation where Batman is not around anymore your only way to keep living is by pretending to be braindead and wait for him

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y’all see this!!!

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the Joker in Batman: City of Madness #3 by Christian Ward